Zippy Went To A Desensitizing Clinic Today

Those mare will tease and carry on and be the cause of all the trouble. lol 
Glad you had the opportunity to go with your horse to a clinic and she what it is like working with him off his home turf.
now to practice what you learned. 
is it possible for your trainer to have a small clinic at your place . ? 

thanks for sharing and he sure is handsome.

Although, good for the mare's owner for taking her - sounds like the mare needs some training so good for the owner for taking her out to a clinic. Sucks it was a pain for other people, but at least the owner is trying to do the right thing

The ground work exercises we practiced were:
-warm up by lunging,
-working on lowering/softening the head and neck,
-backing the horse by making your body language BIG,
-side passing and finishing that with the back up
-disengaging the hind quarters,
-pivoting around/turn on the haunches, and
-pivoting/turn on forehand.
She showed us 3 places on the body to control moving the shoulders over,
moving the the rib cage sideways (side pass),
and disengaging the hind quarters.

The obstacles were:
-wooden bridge that moved under their feet,
-backing/walking thru cones with balloons,
-wooden boxes to stand on,
-pool noodles set up to be walked thru (Zippy jumped over these 884530)
-tarps to walk on, and tarp cut into streamers to walk thru,
-big rings to walk in, and then pivot with front feet in and hind feet walking around (like big hula hoops)
and the opposite, hinds in, fronts out,
-umbrella opening and closing.
I think thats it, but I'll keep thinking,..,

Then she offered the afternoon to ride over the obstacles,., but I was tired, and Zippy was hungry.
He didn't get any real turn out time this morning, so we went home around 1pm (started at 9am).
It was a good day, and Zip was Awesome!

Sounds great...and all of it can be applied to "things" encountered or needing done on a true trail ride.

That mare sounds spoiled...walking/dragging her owner while being led and then carrying on.....
Yes I know mare will be mares but they should have manners just as any stallion does and must...

Sounds like Zip was a superstar...just the way "Mom" likes it to be!!

Just wanted to add,.., I rode today, and practiced the 3 'buttons' on the Zippy's side under saddle.

- Foot on the girth/slightly behind the shoulder, Zippy did an excellent 'pivot' on the hind end
(moving his front end around his stationary hind end).

- Foot in its regular spot, slightly behind the girth, Zippy did an excellent side pass.

- Foot behind the girth, further back (rib cage), Zippy did an excellent 'pivot' on the fore hand
(moving his hind end around, while the front end stayed in place).
Both sides!

Also worked on keeping consistent leg pressure on his sides,.,
which he NO longer runs away from anymore, thank goodness!
AND, his neck reining.
Perfect!

This boy is good!
apple

Thanks MM 
Its true, all that spookiness, over reactiveness, rushing away from leg pressure, fussing with the bit,
jigging, bolting, so many fear induced behaviors,..,
Not even mentioning ALL of his OTHER (past) idiosyncrasies I dealt with,
pinny eared, suspicious, chewing, digging, running over someone, 
not letting me touch his ears, his tail, the trimmers,..,
the list was endless,.., 
He was just a HUGE bundle of issues needing to be 'fixed'
I am sooooooo HAPPY that we are making definite PROGRESS 
He is such a nice little horse, and I really think that when we get his canter down, hes going to be AWESOME!!

Somebody really messed him up along the way,.., his trust is coming back, FINALLY!

Tons of ground work is truly the key.
It was what helped Red become very solid broke too.
I was just thinking about Zippy earlier, he was so stiff,
and so resistant in his shoulders when I first got him.
And thru his hind end,.., he did not know how to disengage his hind quarters.
His shoulder was sticky, and he wouldn't budge.
His body was one big brace against any pressure.
And if he wasn't bracing against it, he was running away from it.
I put a lot of GW on him myself, and it was the one thing our trainer noticed
right away, and complimented me on.
Now he is really soft in his body parts.
Which helps everything 

He's a good guy.